The last few remaining days of the summer holidays….back at home with all the kids and they are all enjoying just chillin’ – we are all trying to sttretttchhtch out our free time for as long as possible. Trying to get them out of the house at the same time is like herding cats. Nobody can really be bothered to do anything (possibly myself included) but we agree on a plan and a time to go out. Then they manage to sleep past that time, so I have to wake them up, but I’m sort of happy with that because I can get some calls made and a blog post written and some other stuff done….so we are already mismanaging our time. Then they come downstairs and wander about foraging for breakfast in all manner of unattractive overnight gear – underpants at worst, dressing gown at best but not in a hurry of any description. There is a brief commotion about who is getting in the shower first followed by grooming, makeup, finding clothes, television, Facebook, BBMing, texting, conversations, more Facebook and then finally, there appears to be a brief window where everybody is vaguely ready and almost near the front door…..then my daughter decides that what she is wearing is wrong for the occasion, which means that the other two go and lie on the sofa to watch TV and wait, then she appears and they “just need to watch this bit”, then finally back at the front door again, one of them decides they need a poo, so the other two drift back to the sofa and so it goes on until I am so exhausted I am tempted to go back to bed before I’ve even made it out of the house and my teenage son is just about ready for his afternoon nap on the sofa, pre-work.
SO. From time to time a more successful way to manage my three children – disparate ages as they are – is to do things with them one at a time. That way we all have a great time, fully focused on the job at hand with no arguments. Yesterday worked brilliantly because my youngest son was having his birthday treat with his father and had gone off fishing. Oldest son was working….so a day in London planned in advance with (or more accurately “by”) my daughter.
She is a clever one, that one. For the third year running my Mother’s Day present has been a homemade voucher for coffee at the Wolseley. She can see even at her young age that the return on her investment will be massive. Because she has managed to get me almost up to Oxford Circus before I have appreciated the full force of the plan. We did a deal though – a trip to the Royal Academy to see the Impressionists also had to be included and then I would agree to buying her some new school uniform – unfortunately of the most expensive kind as she is going to be in the 6th form – no specific uniform as such, just smart clothes and suits and tops and shoes and …..
First stop The Wolseley:-
Just lovely – I LOVE that building and of course the coffees:-
and of one of my favourite people in the world:-
and of one of the best hot chocolates in the world:-
and just so that you can see it’s in a bowl:-
Then across the road to The Royal Academy for a brief visit to The Impressionists exhibition, where my daughter comments a little too loudly that the last time she saw this many old people in a room was at a funeral…..
Then up Bond Street – fatal mistake…..I didn’t check out all the danger zones before I left – should have known there was a planned attack from the left that I walked straight into “OMG LOOK!!! IT’S THE NEW VICTORIA’S SECRET SHOP” – turns out it’s the opening day and there are lots of photographers outside waiting for celebrity shoppers. It is stunning inside. Like a candy store for grown ups. My daughter falls in love with everything and goes to find a basket. The basket in a shop like that is pure genius – but it is also, for me the moment when alarm bells start ringing because it can get horribly expensive without you really noticing and I want to shout “PUT THE BASKET BACK!”. I decide that checking out the prices would be a good idea at this stage – £65 for a bra! FOR MY DAUGHTER?? ARE YOU KIDDING ME? It’s bad enough having a beautiful daughter with a pert body who looks good in a paper bag – SO WHO NEEDS THE BEAUTIFUL EXPENSIVE ATTRACTIVE UPHOLSTERY MORE???? Exactly.
We leave. Empty handed. Hiding the basket behind some corsets.
Next stop Zara for reasonably priced, trendy clothes. I am very happy because the fashion appears to be “safari”. SAFARI! Can you believe it? Just when I’m properly off on safari next week. I am going to look exactly the prat….(oh, ha ha, that was meant to say “part” but think I’ll leave it). Will do another post on safari clothes separately. But lets just say that my daughter was beginning to get a little bit bored of my interest in all things green and khaki and leopard print.
She loves Forever 21 which doesn’t work for me at all and then Top Shop – which is big enough for us both to find things in – they have some amazingly comfortable skinny jeans in at the moment. Bag laden, tired and happy and with a lot less money in my bank account we set off for home.
These are the sort of days I love though. When you have one child to yourself and you chat and laugh and eat and share an experience together and even if in the changing rooms, when I ask her what she thinks and mostly I get “that looks disgusting” or “mum, I’m not gonna lie, but……” and I want to kill the person who put the lights and mirrors in those rooms, it is special and fun AND I got her to an exhibition. WOOHOO.
Shiny
August 31, 2012That hot chocolate looks amazing! And I loved your spelling mistake. Those inadvertant typos always make me laugh and laugh. Oh, and don’t worry, apparently it’s only us, here on the tip, that are in rain. Up North all is as it should be – hot! xxx
Family Affairs
August 31, 2012Phew Lx
Expat Mum
August 31, 2012Sounds like great fun. I had great fun with mine in DC last week when I dropped her off for college. Unfortunately, (in her opinion), we had the nine year old with us. Boy, can they be annoying when they really want to.
Family Affairs
August 31, 2012That wouldn’t have worked at all in our case – youngest boy would have been bored in 2 mins Lx
DD's Diary
August 31, 2012Sounds like a fab day out. Lucky you fitting into things in Topshop, I find it the most depressing place in the world. Last time I went to the Wolseley, we saw Ralph Fiennes! I just about stopped myself from photographing him but it was a near thing, and only achieved really because I thought TL would be so embarrassed. I did stare at Ralph the whole time though. Obviously x
Family Affairs
August 31, 2012Oh I’m so jealous – he def wasn’t there – and the Topshop jeans are SUPER STRETCHY!!! LX
kelloggsville
August 31, 2012Nice. I had a similar day on Tuesday. However, I was told off in the shop I took photos in – blog post on Sunday 🙂
Family Affairs
September 1, 2012Look forward to the post x
SusannahS
September 1, 2012There were photographers at a Victoria’s Secret opening? I’m laughing at the thought of that. 10 years ago you couldn’t go 15 miles without running into one (actually I just googled and there are 11 within 150 miles of me so the math still works out). I also found out that there are not many stores overseas so I guess that is a big deal. I do want a pair of the angel wings.